The Virtues of Patience
by Sonya
Summary: Jo's POV on life, the Roadhouse and the brothers Winchester. Timing really is everything.


RECIPIENT: nightchik

NOTE: Written before 2x10 aired.

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The phone was ringing. It was two o'clock on a random Tuesday afternoon; the bar was deserted, and yet the phone was ringing. It didn't take a genius to figure out who was calling.

Ellen picked up the receiver with a clipped, "Harvelle's," as Jo watched her from the corner where she was unobtrusively wiping down a table top with a wet rag. When her mother's face grew distant and her mouth tightened, Jo wasn't all that surprised.

"Ash! Get your ass out of bed and bring that damn laptop!" Ellen hollered, and Jo found herself wishing fleetingly that she'd had money down on a month. A month before Dean and Sam Winchester came calling again. She would've made a tidy profit.

She saw her mother glance her way and proceeded to ignore her, acting like she didn't have a care in the world beyond finishing her tables. Sure, she'd been working on the same spot for the past several minutes, but maybe she just _really_ wanted to be thorough. Hey, it could happen.

Ash blundered in from the back room a few minutes later, a pair of wrinkled pants slung low on his hips and his hair standing up in a variety of interesting ways. After he set his laptop on the bar, Ellen handed him the phone silently. Jo gave her table another swipe with the rag.

"Heya, Sammy," Ash slurred into the phone, "What's happenin'?" A moment later he offered up an apologetic noise and a "Sorry, Sam. I totally meant to say that, man," and Jo fought to hide a smirk from her mother.

As Ash and Sam got down to business, Jo began to arrange the salt and pepper shakers on the table in front of her, making sure they were just so. And she wasn't listening in on that phone call, no siree. Not even a little.

Okay, fine. Maybe she was eavesdropping just a bit. But the salt shakers really were horribly arranged on this table. And hey, was that a spot she'd missed? Better take care of that. Can't have spots on the tables. People deserved to drink their beer on a clean table, and by god, she was going to make sure that they could!

Jo was so busy splitting her attention between Ash and her inner rationalizing that when her mother tapped her on the shoulder she shrieked and almost jumped out of her skin. She heard Ash tell Sam, "Oh, that was nothing. Jo must've seen a bug or somethin'," and inwardly winced, because really, who got scared of something tiny like a bug after they'd faced down a homicidal ghost? Now Sam and Dean would think she was a total loser. Terrific.

Pushing her mortification to the side for the moment, she turned and offered her mother a quick grin. "Other than trying to scare ten years off my life, was there something you wanted?"

Ellen smiled, though it was stretched too tightly around the edges to pass for real amusement. "If you're going to keep listening in on them, you might as well stop trying to hide it. You're about to wear a spot on that table."

At Jo's contrite look, she sighed softly and added, "Go tell Ash you wanna talk to 'em when he's done. It's okay."

Jo smiled, reaching out to give her mother's hand a squeeze, and found it surprisingly easy to reply, "No thanks."

At the look of relief that quickly flashed across her mother's face before she turned away, Jo understood why. She was ready. She'd made her peace with John Winchester's part in her father's death, whatever that may have been, but her mother hadn't. And after everything she'd been through, Jo didn't have the heart to hurt her again. Not yet.

Ash laughed into the phone. "Hey, Deano, how's it hangin'?"

Jo's hands twitched like she was holding a gun and couldn't wait to pull the trigger. She could almost imagine she heard the masculine voice on the other end of the line, like he was standing just over her shoulder, and if she turned around, she'd see him waiting there, clad in his usual leather jacket, his lips curved up in that self-satisfied little smirk that made her equal parts excited and annoyed. But then she caught her mother watching her out of the corner of her eye and forced her mind back to her work.

It would happen soon enough. She was sure of it. For now, Jo could wait.


End file.
